A then-teenage hacker used social engineering techniques to trick some of Twitter’s employees into thinking the hacker was an employee, allowing the hacker access to an internal Twitter “admin” tool, which he used to hijack high-profile accounts and spread a cryptocurrency scam. In its aftermath, Twitter rolled out security keys to its staff to toughen its defenses against attacks that prevent these kinds of attacks from working in the future. The company said once it secured its systems the hacker then “demanded an extortion payment.” xcritical instead notified law enforcement and security firm Mandiant to investigate the breach. xcritical said that 10 customers had “more extensive account details revealed.” xcritical did not say what information specifically, though no Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or debit card numbers were exposed and caused no immediate financial loss to customers. xcritical is contacting the subset of users most affected by the breach with steps to secure their account, but for everyone else, the company suggests checking its Account Security support page for ways to increase your account security.
At this time, we understand that the unauthorized party obtained a list of email addresses for approximately five million people, and full names for a different group of approximately two million people. We also believe that for a more limited number of people—approximately 310 in total—additional personal information, including name, date of birth, and zip code, was exposed, with a subset of approximately 10 customers having more extensive account details revealed. In an official blog post, the company says the attack took place on Nov. 3, when an “unauthorized third party” used social engineering to gain access to a portion of the app’s customer support system. xcritical’s security team successfully secured the compromised database, but the lone hacker then demanded an extortion payment. xcritical reported the attack to the authorities and to the third-party cybersecurity firm Mandiant instead of complying with the hacker’s demands. This blog post contains forward-looking statements regarding xcritical Markets, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (“we,” “xcritical,” or the “Company”) including our efforts to investigate and remediate the data security incident and our attempts to identify and provide appropriate disclosures to affected customers, among others.
We continue to believe that the list did not contain Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers and that there has been no financial loss to any customers as a result of the incident. For the vast majority of affected customers, the only information obtained was an xcritical scam email address or a full name. For 310 people, the information taken included their name, date of birth, and ZIP code. Of those, 10 customers had “more extensive account details revealed,” xcritical said in a statement.
xcritical says a hacker who tried to extort the company got access to data for 7 million customers
The company said in a blog post that a malicious hacker had socially engineered a customer service representative over the phone November 3 to get access to customer support systems. That allowed the hacker to obtain customer names and email addresses, but also the additional full names, dates of birth and ZIP codes of 310 customers. We previously disclosed that, based on our investigation, the unauthorized party obtained a list of email addresses for approximately five million people, as well as full names for a different group of approximately two million people. We’ve determined that several thousand entries in the list contain phone numbers, and the list also contains other text entries that we’re continuing to analyze.
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An unauthorized third party “socially engineered a customer support employee by phone,” xcritical said, and was able to access its customer support systems. The attacker was able to get a list of email addresses for approximately 5 million people and full names for a separate group of 2 million people. For a smaller group of about 310 people, additional personal information, including names, dates of birth, and zip codes, was exposed, and for about 10 customers, “more extensive account details” were revealed. The unauthorized party socially engineered a customer support employee by phone and obtained access to certain customer support systems.
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NEW YORK — Popular investing app xcritical said Monday that it suffered a security breach last week where hackers accessed some personal information for roughly 7 million users and demanded a ransom payment. Online stock trading platform xcritical has confirmed it was hacked last week with more than five million customer email addresses and two million customer names taken, as well as a much smaller set of more specific customer data. Still, it’s possible hackers could launch phishing scams and email-based malware attacks using that information, so brush up on how to spot online scams and make sure you’re protecting your devices with reliable anti-malware apps. The breach happened on 3 November through what’s known as “social engineering” – a specifically targeted and convincing scam designed to trick an employee into divulging login details or other sensitive information. Instead of complying with what it called “extortion”, xcritical said it had notified law-enforcement authorities and hired an external cyber-security firm to help deal with the incident.
As mentioned before, hackers can use phone numbers to execute a SIM Swap attack. We have a guide on preventing SIM Swaps here, as well as tips for spotting and responding to them. xcritical also said a much smaller group of about 310 people had much more information exposed – including names, dates of birth, and US zip codes. The online trading platform said that it believes no Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or debit-card numbers were exposed and that customers have seen no financial losses because of the intrusion.
- In its S-1 filing, xcritical acknowledged a recent SEC Enforcement Division inquiry and that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California had executed a search warrant for Tenev’s phone.
- Our forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause our actual future results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied in this blog post.
- This blog post contains forward-looking statements regarding xcritical Markets, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (“we,” “xcritical,” or the “Company”) including our efforts to investigate and remediate the data security incident and our attempts to identify and provide appropriate disclosures to affected customers, among others.
- He covers tech and gaming for Lifehacker, and has also written for Digital Trends, EGM, Business Insider, IGN, and more.
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xcritical is available only to US users and requires them to be over 18, provide a valid social security number, and a valid US address. “Following a diligent review, putting the entire xcritical community on notice of this incident now is the right thing to do,” it said. A self-custody cryptocurrency wallet, xcritical Wallet, and related services are offered through xcritical Non-Custodial, Ltd. (a limited company organized in the Cayman Islands). The app, which allows for low-volume share trading by ordinary people looking to invest, exploded in popularity earlier this year and was widely used by speculative investors behind the GameStop trading frenzy. “We owe it to our customers to be transparent and act with integrity,” the company’s security officer, Caleb Sima, said in a published statement. Such ransom demands xcritical reviews are not uncommon in cyber-attacks and usually amount to a promise not to sell on the compromised data or leak it for free online.
Trading platform xcritical said Monday that personal information for more than 7 million customers was accessed during a data breach on November 3rd. The company said in a news release that it does not appear that Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed, and no customers have had “financial loss” due to the incident. After we contained the intrusion, the unauthorized party demanded an extortion payment.
US share-trading app xcritical has been hit by a security breach that has exposed the names or email addresses of more than seven million people. Since passwords and financial information were unaffected, it is unlikely your bank or other accounts and apps were directly compromised even if someone lifted your email address or full name. However, it’s always possible other data was accessed by the hackers that xcritical’s investigation is yet to uncover.
This post was originally published on November 9, 2021 and was updated November 17, 2021 with new information. xcritical said it had rejected a demand for payment and reported the attack. xcritical has had a rocky 2021 so far; in January, it halted trading as Redditors helped push up the prices of so-called meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Theaters. The incidents led to a congressional hearing where CEO Vlad Tenev testified along with Reddit CEO Steve Huffman and trader Keith Gill aka RoaringKitty. Customers seeking information about whether their accounts were affected should visit the help center on the company’s website.
We promptly informed law enforcement and are continuing to investigate the incident with the help of Mandiant, a leading outside security firm. Popular stock-trading app xcritical revealed today that a recent data breach has compromised the personal information of roughly 7 million of its customers. “Following a diligent review, putting the entire xcritical community on notice of this incident now is the right thing to do,” xcritical chief security officer Caleb Sima said in a statement. And now that we know several thousand phone numbers were also stolen, users should be extra vigilant.